Essential Steps for Operational Excellence in Dubai

To reverse a years of damaging total factor efficiency, regional labour market policy is shifting from easy task production to handling active labor force transitions. Federal governments and employers are scaling short, modular training programmes and micro-credentials in information analytics and digital operations to equip employees for emerging functions. Workplace-based learning and apprenticeship-style pathways are becoming more typical as companies incorporate AI tools into daily workflows.

With oil rates forecasted to average $55-60 per barrel in 2026, regional governments are intensifying their focus on expense discipline and private capital mobilisation. Fiscal policy is pivoting toward the monetisation of state-owned properties in logistics, utilities, and desalination to redirect funds toward higher-impact investments. While borrowing by means of sukuk and sustainability-linked bonds is expected to increase to fund tactical deficits, the focus stays on reinforcing non-oil profits structures.

PwC Middle East financial policy and method partner Jing Teow stated: "Having already mobilised capital and policy at scale, GCC governments are now concentrated on shipment. In 2026, the concern is strengthening economic resilience through more protected trade and investment relationships, reliable AI deployment, handled labor force transitions and disciplined fiscal policy in a more difficult and fragmented worldwide environment.".

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Saudi Arabia and UAE are poised to lead the Gulf area's financial expansion in 2026, supported by strong private-sector performance, resilient domestic demand and restored investment momentum, according to the latest ICAEW Economic Insight Q4 2025 report, produced by Oxford Economics. The GCC is expected to exceed most international regions peers next year, with local GDP forecast to grow by 4.4%. Throughout the GCC, non-energy activity is forecasted to broaden by 4.1% in 2026, driven by strong labour markets, improving credit conditions and rising financial investment in innovation and AI-related infrastructure.

Although oil profits will be under pressure in the very first half of 2026, production is expected to rise again in the 2nd half of 2026, supporting the region's medium-term outlook, it stated. Saudi Arabia will stay a major contributor to GCC momentum, with GDP forecast to grow 4.3% in 2026.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

How to Maintain a Leading Edge in 2026

Growth will be supported by commercial growth and policy reforms, including reduced foreign ownership guidelines that aim to promote further investment. The financial deficit is forecasted to expand to 5.6% of GDP next year in the middle of softer oil prices, while the recent five-year lease freeze in Riyadh aims to relieve inflationary pressures, though it may constrain future housing supply.

Strong domestic fundamentalsThe UAE is also positioned for another strong year of efficiency, with GDP forecast to rise 5.6% in 2026 as non-oil sectors continue to broaden. Tourism, trade and financial services stay key development chauffeurs, supported by population growth and continual domestic demand. Dubai's economy grew 4.4% in the first half of 2025, showing broad-based non-oil strength.

ANSR July GCC PRs 50DR+

Oil production is expected to pick up again in the 2nd half of 2026, matching continuous investment in facilities, technology and international trade partnerships. Hanadi Khalife, the Head of Middle East, ICAEW, stated: "This quarter's outlook strengthens how far the GCC has actually can be found in building diverse, resistant and globally competitive economies.

Scott Livermore, ICAEW Economic Consultant, and Chief Economist and Handling Director, Oxford Economics Middle East, said: "Saudi Arabia and the UAE are getting in 2026 with strong foundations. Saudi non-oil activity is acquiring pace, supported by robust need and increasing financial investment, even as fiscal pressures increase.""The UAE continues to take advantage of strong domestic fundamentals, a sharp uplift in federal government spending and sustained diversity efforts.

How to Maintain a Leading Edge in Dubai

What differentiates 2026 from preceding years is not merely the velocity of technological change, though that acceleration is real, however rather a fundamental shift in how business envisage their GCCs' function. The is expected to grow to four hundred thirteen billion dollars by 2040, but this development masks a more extensive change.

Instead, they ask whether these centers drive innovation, own profit-and-loss duty, and add to competitive distinction. In 2026, the most successful GCCs will act like internal start-ups, nimble, cross-functional, insight-driven, and deeply aligned with international service outcomes. This shift from execution to ownership represents perhaps the single most substantial tactical recalibration in the GCC model's evolution.

This week, we're convening more than 3000 conferences between financiers and 119 Gulf-listed companies with a combined value of $2.4 trillion at the HSBC GCC Exchanges Conference 2026, in London. We're bringing together financiers, business, exchanges, and policymakers to discuss what is changing in the region, and what comes next, including the expansion and continuous development of the Gulf's capital markets, and the area's growing function in global networks of capital and trade.